"Won X Super Bowls" is an intellectually lazy argument made by people who didn't watch all that many games but remember the highlights that they DID see.
Again, I'm not one of those people who thinks rings mean NOTHING, they are the ultimate goal. But unless we are talking a sport like basketball, where there are only 5 players on the court, or hockey, where a superstar like Gretzky, Orr, or Lemieux can dominate, "number of championships won" is just one point of an overall argument. A bunch of guys - Phil Rizzuto is one of them - got into the Hall of Fame largely based on "he played for 9 World Series champions" because, well, he was a Yankee.
Here's what I'd challenge anyone to do. FIRST - decide how big your HOF actually is. Let's assume it's 20% of the players at a position, not unreasonable. That means Eli HAS to be - CONSISTENTLY - one of the TOP SIX QBs in the league year after year after year.
Does he meet even that minimalist standard?
Not even close.
He was a part-time starter in 2004, so we won't count that year.
And we won't count 2019 since he only played four games.
2005 - Peyton, Brady, Favre, Trent Green, Brees, Carsen Palmer, Hasselbeck
2006 - Brees, Peyton, Brady, Favre, Palmer, Big Ben
2007 - Brady, Brees, Favre, Peyton, Romo, Palmer
2008* - Brees, Kurt Warner, Rivers, Peyton, Rodgers, Pennington (16 QBs passed for more yards than Eli)
2009 - Schaub, Peyton, Rodgers, Brady, Brees (Favre, Rivers, Big Ben all still better than Eli)
2010 - Brady, Peyton, Brees, Rivers, Rodgers, MAYBE Eli (at best 6th)
2011** - Brees, Brady, Stafford, Rodgers, Rivers, MAYBE Eli (again - at best 6th and that's debatable)
2012 - Brees, Brady, Stafford, Rodgers, Peyton, Matt Ryan (and Romo, Palmer, and maybe Schaub)
2013 - Peyton, Brees, Stafford, Brady, Rivers, Ryan (and Palmer, Big Ben, and Romo and maybe others)
2014 - Brees, Big Ben, Peyton, Rodgers, Ryan, Andrew Luck (Eli MIGHT can be viewed as #6, doubt it)
2015*** - Brees, Brady, Rivers, Palmer, Cam Newton, MAYBE Eli (Rodgers had an off year for him)
2016& - Brees, Ryan, Rodgers, Brady, Rivers, Russell Wilson
2017 - Brady, Rivers, Brees, Stafford, Big Ben, Kirk Cousins, Ryan, Dak (Eli was 15th in yardage, 19th in TDs)
2018 - Big Ben, Mahomes, Ryan, Rodgers, Brady, Rivers
You can make a bit of a case for Eli in 2005, but I don't buy it.
* - Brady missed all of 2008 with an injury.
** - Peyton Manning missed all of 2011 with an injury.
*** - Peyton missed half of 2015 with injury AND STILL WON THE SUPER BOWL!!!
& - Brady was suspended four games for Deflategate, lowering his numbers, but he was still a top QB.
So let's see......
Eli was never even close to the best QB in the league.
He was never the second, third, fourth, or fifth best in the league.
You can make an argument that 3-4 times he was among the Top Six QBs in the league...but 2 of those 4 times he's only there because one of the two legends is injured.
He never led the league in passing and the only thing he did lead in is interceptions. THREE TIMES.
Look, I don't hate the guy, in fact, I always kinda pulled for him at Ole Miss.
But the facts and stats do not justify this idea he's a HOFer, either.
I concur on all points.
Big Ben's candidacy is iffy and is going to be hurt by the scooter and sexual stuff, but he's still substantially better than Eli and oh yeah, "two Super Bowl rings!"
Let me put it like this:
is Carson Palmer a HOFer?
Palmer has:
- a better winning percentage while playing on a much worse team
- about 10K fewer passing yards in 54 fewer games
- a higher percentage passer
- more yards per game average
- 57 fewer INTs more than offsetting the 72 fewer TDs
Literally all that separates them is "but Eli won two Super Bowls" combined with "Palmer missed a lot of time due to injuries."
I don't think Palmer is a HOFer, I don't think Matt Ryan is a HOFer - but Eli is "slam dunk"????
